Just Add Water
by blue c 84
Summary: SICON HQ gets their share of reinforcements the CHAS version 2.0. The troopers are already unsure with the CHAS concept as it is. Then the rain comes. Based on R:STC
1. Chapter 1

STC: Just Add Water

Note-[ Enter disclaimers here The fic can stand alone but its easier to understand if you've read "the bug war continued" (yes, i now realize the title's a bit lame-- but that's what that fic was) Otherwise, I must've been really high on caffeine to think that this was going to be an easy fic to write... which is why it became a two part thing instead of a one shot.

Edit 09/10/2007:: Make that a three part thing.

SICON HQ, San Francisco

The mess hall of any SICON base would usually be busy feeding hungry troopers trying to refuel before their next battle. These days, the cafeteria in SICON HQ, San Francisco is normally half, or more, empty. Earth was finally clean of the bugs. Most of the infantry squads are now spread out in various Starships exterminating infestations. The bug leader may be gone but the bugs were still posing a problem. Although the bugs can't communicate to organize an attack combining the forces of its colonies, the arachnids also decided that they weren't going down without a fight. Only a handful of squads remained on Earth to keep the peace.

Today, however, the cafeteria was abuzz with troopers not to eat, but to peer out the window overlooking the heli-pad. The Roughnecks were glad that they had a window seat regardless of the occasion giving them a good view of the landing retrieval ship on this momentous occasion. The federation decided that infantry, fleet and the Tophetti alliance headed by Colonel T'Phai may not be enough to ensure human security. They wanted reinforcements and today was the day HQ would receive their new squad in the form of new, improved, yet cheaper Cybernetic Humanoid Assault System version 2.0.

Higgins filmed from the window as a squad of 10 Cyborgs filed into formation on the heli- pad under the clear sunny day. He's been on the same seat for hours awaiting the robot's arrival. FedNet would kill him if he didn't have footage of the occasion. He caught a glimpse of the girl sitting across him who has kept him company for hours and smiled. She had both hands on the glass, grinning from ear to ear like she just caught a glimpse of her honorable dismissal letter. "So what do you think, Andy?" He asked as the cyborgs were lead into one of the building surrounding the heli-pad. He swung his camera to get some trooper comments.

"Absolute killer piece of art." Andy replied still excited. "Chills down my spine. Just chills." She said returning her gaze to the table's occupants.

Max Brutto smirked beside Higgins. "Takes a CHAS to like a CHAS."

Doc gave the girl a friendly pat on the shoulder before she could answer Brutto. "Careful there private. You're starting to sound like you have a crush on those sheets of metal."

Andy gave the two boys a dry smile before taking a sip off her mug. "Hey, it has a brain doesn't it." She shot back.

"Oh and I suppose lowly troopers like me, don't?" Brutto replied.

Andy smiled. "Yeah, exactly. Troopers like you." She nodded. Then she pointed to the others. "Note--I didn't say anything about them." She added.

Higgins shook his head laughing. "Have to learn how to shut up, Brutto."

Dizzy Flores sat back down on her seat. She had been standing to get a view of the new CHAS's. But now that she's seen it, she was left a bit confused. She looked at the resident tech wiz sitting across her. "I thought they said it was new. It looks like the same tin can to me."

Gossard shook his head. "On the outside. But in the inside they're not even close." He said grinning almost as wide as the younger trooper had been. "The new cyborgs have better yet lighter armours that are waterproof, shockproof, pressure proof, heat and fire proof until 1200 degrees. They've made the joints better so it moves with less friction and wear and tear. Suspension's been upgraded too. Battery efficiency is off the charts and it now carries more ammo. Have I mentioned that they're also equipped with wireless communications knowing where and what each robot is up to so they can act like an autonomous squad?"

"Someone took 'all for one, one for all' a bit too seriously." Carl commented.

"Better to grease us all with my dear." Rico shook his head remembering their earlier excursion to Tophet with the cyborg's original version. The first CHAS had countered Lieutenant Razak's orders and saw troopers as mere statistics instead of actual lives. Its priorities were a bit skewed. They survived that day with the its help that much was true. But the robot had also almost shot him without warning which permanently black listed the technology in his opinion.

Dizzy nudged the lieutenant beside her. "Someone's still holding a grudge."

"See, you guys are missing the most important point." Carl said putting down his mug.

Gossard gave the psychic a curious look. "And what may that be?"

Carl grinned. "Sgt. Zim said they're taking over our perimeter watch tonight."  
--

Dizzy stared out the window while waiting for the meeting behind the doors behind her to finish. She couldn't understand how the weather could change so fast in this area of the world. It was absolutely sunny for most of the morning and afternoon. But right after dinner, the rain started pouring from angry clouds that seemingly have come out of nowhere. She had heard one of the troopers that she passed saying that the low depression area over the Bay area was just slightly shy of being an actual storm. To think the Roughnecks could be the ones out there tonight doing perimeter rounds in the rain as originally planned instead of the Cyborgs. The pre- cog was right all along about missing this very important point.

She was amazed by two CHAS passing by the quad below her. She could see the wind and rain hitting them straight on ;yet, the robots kept their pace even. There were no signs of them being pushed back by the force of the wind. Maybe there was more to eye with those cyborgs than Rico thought.

A hand placed on her shoulder knocked her out of her thoughts. She grinned as Rico slid to lean on the post beside her. She hadn't noticed that the people in the room had filed out while she was preoccupied with the robots on the quad. "Ok. That's over." He pointed at the door sliding shut. "I'm back." Rico smiled.

"And the world makes sense again." She replied sarcastically. "Whoopeedoo."

Rico gave her a curious look and turned his head so he could see what she was looking at. He groaned seeing the CHAS units marching on the quad. He'd rather she was thinking about the rain instead of the CHAS. "And here I thought you were thinking of me." He said wryly turning away from the window.

"Yes. Because she wants you. She needs you. She'll absolutely die without you." A voice answered in the same mocking tone from down the hall. Rico rolled his eyes when he saw Carl Jenkins walking towards them. Dizzy erupted in laughter seeing the officer's shocked reaction.

The lieutenant crossed his arms. "One day Carl Jenkins, you're going to get yours." He said with a small smile on his face.

The psychic grinned smugly stopping in front of his friends. "So we've met up as planned. Are we going to eat anytime soon?" He asked.

The three troopers started to make their way to the mess hall. Rico couldn't help but look at the CHAS units that Dizzy was watching earlier. He couldn't shake the feeling that they were trouble. He sighed. Maybe Dizzy was right. He's been holding his grudge against the robots for far too long. The CHAS did have its merits and he himself have seen how fast and efficient it could be deployed. He glanced at the window again but this time stopped in his tracks. He could've sworn he saw sparks coming from the back of the CHASs.

Dizzy turned to the lieutenant looking out the window. "Hey Rico, you're frying Jenkin's brains here." She taunted walking backwards.

Rico tore his eyes away from the cyborgs. The meeting must've affected his brains because he was definitely imagining things. It must be just the wind and rain playing tricks on him. Gossard had said that the CHASs were waterproof. His growling stomach was saying that he was hungry after all. "Yeah, coming." He answered. He jogged a few meters to catch up with his two friends trying to shake off the nagging feeling in his head.

--  
Sgt. Zim sat in front of the control panel and shook his head. He watched in dismay as Higgins fell to the floor catching his breath after Gossard ended the sim program inside the training room. He didn't even bother listening to what the reporter's score was. The technician's laughter was enough to tell him that the trooper hadn't done very well, yet again. He leaned back on his chair. "Brutto! Get in there." He ordered. He heard a groan from the trooper behind him grabbing a morita replica off the rack.

"He's trying to kill us, Andy." The reporter complained when the younger trooper helped pull him off the floor. She lead him to the control room where he could collapse on the floor in peace for a few minutes at least until Brutto was finish with his turn.

Andy gave her friend a sympathetic pat on the back and sat down with him while Doc handed the reporter a bottle of water. "Old habits die hard." he said wryly remembering that Zim had been a drill sergeant.

"No kidding." Gossard said sitting on the floor space beside the two behind the Sergeant as gun fire filled the air once again.

The old sergeant crossed his arms in defiance. He wished the troopers could see things his way. With Colonel T'Phai back in Tophet, the Roughnecks were finding themselves a shooter down their normal calibre. It worked out fine when they were in cleaning up Pluto (again). But they were about to be deployed to Ceres in less than 48 hours and clean up on that planetoid hasn't even officially started yet. If the place looked anything like it did before, they were going to be in trouble. He came to book the VR room earlier in the afternoon just to see that the list was full. Then he spotted Anderson's name scheduled on the last slot available-- just a little after midnight. He wasn't surprised. This was one of the weird habits she gained from being in Sierra squad that she hasn't gotten over. It didn't take much to convince her to give it up for his purpose of training Higgins and Brutto to have a better aim-- with the emphasis on Higgins. The sergeant did out rank her after all.

He took a quick glance behind him at the three troopers in their black MI suits that had accompanied the two troopers in question, trying to get the paperboy donning a power suit to see the random up side of training.

"The bugs don't bite." Doc pointed out at the light display.

Gossard shrugged. "But then again, there's the sarge and he might as well be the one biting." He said earning a playful slap on his shoulder from the younger girl.

"Well, you're just a bucket of sunshine." She replied sarcastically. "Don't listen to him Hig. Check it out, you're up three from your average." She said trying to cheer up the reporter but to no avail.

Higgins groaned trying to massage his sore shoulder from holding up the morita. "Yeah, only after 30 thousand times."

Sgt. Zim rolled his eyes and went back to watching the younger Brutto work his turn on the sim. Suddenly, the power in the simulation room went awry. Brutto's exercise stopped as the lights blinked unsurely overhead.

"Finally, the Sim blew a fuse." Brutto said joining the troopers in the control room putting the mock morita back. "It can't take the heat I was packing in there." He grinned proudly. The lights continued blinking until it died. Irridescent blue emergency lights barely illuminated the room. The troopers got themselves off the floor and looked at each other in confusion. SICON bases hardly ran out of power because they weren't linked into any sector's power grid. They had their own autonomous power supply.

"What's going on?" Higgins asked out loud worriedly. He saw Doc and Gossard look at each other and shrug. Andy tossed the water bottle to Brutto before he could make any comment about Higgins' distress.

"Brutto's inflated ego hit something." The technician offered. Brutto almost choked on the water he was drinking.

Zim swiveled his chair to face them. "Must be a power outage. Power reserves should come soon." He crossed his arms. However, the sounds of people shouting and gun fire filtered through the computerized doors was starting to make him think otherwise.

Brutto lowered the water bottle from his lips. "That doesn't sound right." He said.

"Looks like SICON's scared of the dark." Doc replied grimly.

Then, the weapons fire and shouting stopped only to be replaced by a constant thumping growing louder. Zim eyed the boy as he headed for the control pad of the door. The four troopers followed and waited behind him as he punched the a code on the keypad. "Doc and I will asses the situation. You three stay in the room until my signal. Are we clear, Roughnecks?" He ordered.

"Sir yes sir." Came the troopers' prompt response.

Zim pressed the last button on the keypad. The door slid open. The thumping sound stopped. Doc and Zim slowly peered out to the hallway dimly lighted by the emergency lights above. The sergeant's eye's widened at the sight in front of him. There were four fallen troopers sprawled on the ground in front of a Cyborg. He saw the robot's telescopic lens eyes focus on the them.

"It's a CHAS." Higgins realized as he filmed the hallway from a lower position compared to the older troopers. The cyborg lifted both arms to their direction. Higgins lowered his camera and froze. He felt his body being jerked back in the simulation room a second before the CHAS's eyes completely focused and started shooting.

Gossard hurriedly punched in a code to shut the doors. He saw the girl help pull the fallen reporter again. "Did he just say CHAS?" He asked the Sergeant and Doc. The weapon's fire stopped. But now it was replaced by the sound cyborg's even and menacing footsteps. Doc nodded crossing his arms. The mechanic's jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the medic.

"You've got to be kidding." Brutto grabbed the camera that had fallen away from Higgin's hand. He punched buttons buttons so that the film would play back. He grimaced and passed the reel on to Andy. "Absolute killer piece of art huh?" He said emphasizing the second word.

Andy watched the video rerun. "Oh man." She sighed defeatedly. She gave the camera back to its owner shaking her head. She had a sinking feeling Brutto would never let her live this one down.  
--


	2. Chapter 2

STC: Just Add Water 2

"Fancy meeting you here." Johnny Rico greeted as Carl Jenkins slid under the table by instinct.

The psychic couldn't return the greeting as fast as he would like. He was still in shock on what had just happened. Here they were having a really late dinner in the mess hall when two CHAS units came in. Dizzy had even joked about what CHASs ate-- "A midnight snack of micro chips"-- which he and Rico didn't really find all that funny. The girl had waved them off saying they had lost their sense of humour. A second later, the units raised their arms and open fired on the troopers inside the mess hall. He watched as the troopers that had been peacefully eating jump for cover.

"I guess they didn't find your joke funny either." The psychic said. The three flinched when they heard calls for medics from the other troopers in the room.

Dizzy looked around and saw the CHAS units start moving forward. She shook her head in dismay. "We're sitting ducks here." She exclaimed. She watched the CHAS units use their flame throwers under a table. Luckily the troopers underneath had anticipated the movie and rolled away before the flame came. "Make that roasted ducks if we don't think of something." She corrected.

Carl Jenkins rolled his eyes and smiled. "Another pun? You should go to clown college."

Dizzy Flores hit her friend playfully. But she couldn't take her eyes away from the CHAS units that were heading ever so closer to their location. One unit was now ripping the tables from the floor upturning them to make sure the troopers had no other place to hide while the other unit fired away at the troopers trying to escape. Dizzy counted 6 tables left before they reached theirs. "They're coming." She warned.

"Really? I didn't notice." Rico answered sarcastically. He sighed. Here he was thinking he could take it easy until their next drop. Just thinking about dropping in Ceres after their last go at the planetoid was enough to give him the creeps. Now he had to take down screwed up CHAS units too? This, yet again, proved to him that those cyborgs should never have been made. The lights started flickering and after a few seconds, the emergency lights had taken over. "Great. How do you stop a thing that's basically indestructable without fire power?" He asked remembering Gossard's technical updates.

Dizzy stared at the floor for one second then looked at both troopers grinning. "Who needs fire power? Maybe they're just hungry." She said with a mischevous grin. She reached for a handful of what looked like yellow goop on the floor that SICON passed for mashed potatoes. "Can't hit what you can't see."

Carl mirrored the girl's expression and grabbed his own share of lumpy brown goop that was suppose to be gravy. "Smartest clown in the college."

Rico grabbed a green mass that he hoped was strained vegetable. "Always thought this wasn't meant to be eaten." He said meeting his friends' gaze. "On three." He grinned. "Three!"

The three troopers popped out of their tables and threw their mysterious food products to the eyes of the CHAS units. "Food fight!" Dizzy yelled as her mashed potatoes hit squarely on one cyborg's telescopic lens with an audible splat. Rico had hit the other CHAS, which was followed by Carl's gravy. The CHAS units started firing wildly for a few seconds. The troopers took this opportunity to head for the door staying as low to the ground as possible. Then the CHAS stopped firing and turned to their direction. Their scans and other sensors have now taken over and finished mapping the area. They started running to the door aided by their jet packs. Rico punched the code for the door to close just as the last trooper baseball slid out of the mess hall followed by two CHASs ready to shoot. The door slid close just as the machines started firing. The CHASs dented the door when they hit with an audible crash causing a few stifled giggles in the surviving group. Another trooper had jabbed the keypad with a utility knife making sure that the CHASs would have to break the reinforced titanium doors to break through.

Carl shook his head. "Guess they didn't like SICON's food either."  
--

Zim punched the door to shut in the weapons and locker room and destroyed the keypad. It would take a while for the CHAS unit that had chased them to wreck the door open. It was a good thing they had a lot of corners to pass to get to the weapons room. Apparently, at the speed the CHAS was traveling with the aid of the packs, it had trouble cornering properly. This gave the troopers time to put a little distance between them only for the CHAS to catch up firing at them right when they turned another corner. Zim turned around in time to see the five troopers collapse on the benches or the floor catching their breath. "Everybody whole?" He asked sternly albeit trying to recover himself. The CHAS was now banging on the door alerting the troopers.

"Did we just trap ourselves in a room full of explosives?" Higgins asked the troopers bringing himself on a sitting position on the floor as the banging continued.

Brutto looked around at the racks of moritas, launchers, shock sticks, bombs and grenades near his bench. "Great. We're dead." He stated.

Zim eyed the two troopers in dismay. "Negativity's not going help soldier."

The younger trooper stared at the sergeant and changed the tone of his statement. "Great! We're dead!" He said again adding a fist pump with the fake smile.

"Oh, that makes it a whole lot better." Doc laid face up on another the bench still catching his breath.

The sergeant walked up to the trooper and bent down so they met eye to eye. "Remember your place soldier.The lieutenant might not mind this insolence but that doesn't mean I'll let it slide. I am still a ranking officer. Am I making myself clear?" He gave the trooper threatening scowl.

"Sir, yes, sir." Brutto answered with little enthusiasm. He looked at the door behind the sergeant. "There's a dent on the door sir." He informed the sergeant.

The banging sound continued as Zim refused to break his gaze on the troublesome trooper. "Forget the power suits, apes. Check your equipment and load up." He ordered moving to the weapons cabinets and racks.

Doc caught the girl on the floor looking at the two stare off curiously with a small smile on her face. He couldn't believe it. There was a robot ready to kill them once it breaks the door and the girl was amused at Zim who was still eying Brutto. "Andy? What's so funny?" He asked finally getting off the bench to follow Gossard who already grabbed his back pack and started loading himself with weapons. Doc stared at the door. The banging had stopped. This development couldn't be any good.

Andy didn't shift her line of sight. "If this were a cartoon, there would be sparks on..." She paused. All of a sudden, she got off the floor, took a morita and shock stick off the rack randomly before heading for her locker . "I wonder if the servers are still working." She said randomly out loud to no one in particular. She grabbed a laptop and notebook from her locker and sat down on the bench nearby.

"Typing your last words, Anderson?" Brutto asked grimly. He was disappointed when the girl didn't answer back like she normally would. Instead she paid attention to what's on her screen. She flipped a few pages on the notebook beside her and started typing. Her grin grew wider the more she typed. But suddenly her face fell. She turned to the troopers shifting her gaze to each one while biting her lower lip.

Doc and Gossard watched the girl's gaze stop on them. "I'm not sure I'm reading this right." She said in the most helpless tone they've ever heard from her. The two older troopers went up and peered over her shoulder. Once they took a glimpse of the screen, the two were shocked. As smart as the girl was, they understood her sudden uncertainty. Bio- mech was never as straightforward as it looked. But what was more surprising is what the report was showing.

"It's water." Doc stated standing back up.

Higgins looked at the trio on the bench wryly. "You mean it caught a cold?" He exclaimed.

The technician shook his head. "A bad one. The A.I now thinks everything that moves is the enemy."

Zim frowned. "That's not a cold, that's a personality disorder." He said still watching the door. A circular red glow was now visible. The CHAS must've been using it's lasers. Zim raised his morita at the melting door.

But Gossard placed his hand on the morita and forced it down. "Sir. We're in a weapon's hold. I don't feel like blowing up HQ today. Last week, maybe. But not today." He said with a sly grin on his face Sgt. Zim knew far too well.

"What do you have in mind corporal?" Zim asked.

Gossard's grin widened. "If we do it right, we'll give it the shock of its life."  
--

Dizzy stared at the scene in front of her. They had just turned the corner when they saw a CHAS falling backwards with sparks coming out from every joint of its body. There was a loud crash and more sparks before the CHAS finally stopped twitching. She gave the other two boys a shug and watched Rico tilt his head to the direction of the CHAS signaling that they should approach. Dizzy sighed as they did so slowly, just in case the CHAS had a chance or resurrection.

"Now, that's what I call an electrifying exit." They heard a very familiar medic's voice say.

The three relaxed entering the weapons hold. "I guess the spark between you is gone." Dizzy grinned giving Doc a fake punch on the arm. She looked around the room curiously. The troopers were returning at least three shock sticks each on the racks. The floor had several lizard lines laid out ending at the door. "Whoah. You could've told us to watch our first step." She said looking at Gossard wryly. It was obvious that this had been his idea.

"Why? I would've caught you if you fell." Gossard answered. He grinned as Dizzy giggled. But his grin disappeared when Carl gave him a look of disbelief.

"Really." Carl motioned to the not very amused lieutenant, his best friend.

Sgt. Zim rolled his eyes as trooper banter continued. He peered over Private Anderson's shoulder watching as windows popped up just for her to type something and fall back down. He watched as her hand would occasionally leave the keyboard to flip some pages on a notebook that looked like it had alpha numeric codes written neatly on it's sheets. Sgt. Zim eyed the smiling girl in her own world suspiciously. It didn't take an Intel officer to know that no laptop had remote access to the CHAS program files. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked behind and met Rico's gaze.

"What's the sitch?" Rico asked lightly.

Zim rolled his eyes for the second time in a span of a few minutes. How many times should he have to talk to this officer to be a bit more serious and strict? He was a lieutenant now, not a lowly private. But he decided against the reprimand-- they'll have time for a one on one later. Right now, there were the CHAS. " A breach in water proofing shorted the cyborgs." Zim explained briefly.

The lieutenant groaned. This was not a good day. "So that's 10 rampaging robots." He replied without much enthusiasm making Zim frown some more.

But the girl in front of them raised up one hand waving four fingers around. "Correction. Four." She said without taking her eyes off her laptop. "Shut down five that were normal. One fried." She continued in phrases.

"That's good news." Higgins breathed a sigh of relief as he joined the two officers to watch Andy's screen. He caught a glimpse of a name in the notebook and smiled. "E. Walk?" He read out loud. The girl automatically closed her notebook with one hand giving the reporter an annoyed look before returning back to typing away. "E. Walk." Higgins repeated again trying to think why it was so familiar even when he's never met anyone by the name. His eyes widened as the name hit him. "E. Walk? As in Earl Walker?" He asked. "You have Walker's access codes?"

[author's note: E. Walk. Get it? E. Walk. Ewok. The fuzzy small woodland teddy bears in star wars... er... nevermind.

Brutto patted Higgin's shoulder. "Better watch your back, now. She's got a great aim." He grinned widely causing the reporter to pale.

"Private Anderson. Explain." Zim ordered.

The girl sighed and stopped typing. She turned to face the officers. She smiled guiltily for a good second. "Funny thing happened one day, I was at the archives and I ended up with the codes of half of SICON's officers." She trailed off as the two officers stared her down. Her smile faded. "Does it really matter? There's two that just came out of the mess hall. There's two that are busy with a bunch of troopers. They've seemed to turned on all their sensors beyond what they can see and shooting people with shock sticks first. I don't know what happened in the mess hall but it's starting to look like we can't play the same trick twice." She reasoned speaking really quickly hopeful that they'd forget all about the codes after the CHASs have been dealt with.

Gossard tapped his head with a finger. "It can learn you know." He said walking over to the group with Doc, Brutto, Carl and Dizzy.

"Maybe we can reeducate." Brutto grinned pointing at the fallen CHAS outside the door.

The laptop beeped. The girl shifted her gaze from the officers to the screen. Her jaw dropped. "No way." She said looking up at the troopers a bit paler than she was just moments before. "We've just been tagged as public enemy number 1. There are two marching over here." She worriedly informed the group.

"Do we get a prize?" Carl asked crossing his arms.

Dizzy smiled. "How about a ticket to hell?" She answered.

Carl smirked. "Depends.Roundtrip or one way?" He replied.

Doc grimaced as he asked the question that he already knew the answer too. "Can you shut the CHAS off?"

The girl, as he expected, shook her head. "The level two's codes aren't working. We need a level one to override. Is she even here is the question." She closed her laptop and stood up, stowing the morita on the floor and the laptop to her backpack. Then she realized that the troopers haven't moved but stared at her instead. She stared back at them, confused. "... aren't we leaving?" She asked hesitantly.

Rico gave up. He could never understand why the girl needed to be asked exact questions before she gave information even in situations like these. He placed both his hands on the girl's shoulders holding her in place. "Andy, who are you talking about?" He asked.

The girl looked around at the expectant troopers. "Who else? Sky Marshal Redwing." She answered simply.


	3. Chapter 3

STC: Just Add Water 3

Sky Marshal Redwing was staring at the screen in front of her showing Intel in a panic. They should be panicking. Even a blind person would feel squirmish with the scowl the Sky Marshal had on her face. "I do not like the odds of my troopers vs CHAS systems. You better explain to me why those things aren't responding to my override command" She yelled pounding a fist on the console.

The officer on screen winced slightly. "Well, there was really only a small chance that the override would work since the Cyborgs have ... strayed themselves from the system." The officer explained weakly.

The Sky Marshal's frown deepened. "Strayed themselves from the system." She repeated unamused. The Intel officer couldn't help but flinch, a reaction that wasn't lost to the Federation head. She knew questioning the officer was futile. INTEL was just as lost as her. "I hope for your sake you know what the current situation is." She ordered as she heard an explosion and felt the building sway slightly.

The officer took a deep breath. "Emergency power is at it's limit. There are three CHAS systems that are still active. There is one engaged by troopers in the south wing." He paused looking down at another screen to re check his details. Another explosion rocked the Sky Marshal's building. The officer looked up to the Sky Marshal paler and more frightened than he had ever been.

"What? Where's the other two?" She demanded.

The man snapped back to reality. "Security cameras have spotted them chasing after troopers. They're heading right for you ma'am." He answered slowly as if he was trying to understand what he had just said himself.

"WHAT?" She exclaimed. She rushed to slide the door open. She leaned on the door frame for balance as the explosions started to rock the building harder. Machine fire started to get louder as the seconds ticked by. Figures emerged from the corner of the corridor. But the faint voices arguing through the noise suddenly made her feel slightly better.

"I want a normal stalker!" A boy had screamed out in frustration as the machine fire stopped for a brief second.

"Brutto. This isn't the time to reveal your fantasies." Answered a familiar lieutenant.

"There isn't ever a time for this conversation period!" An even more familiar stern voice boomed over the renewed machine fire.

The Sky Marshal almost smiled. She would've laughed out loud if the situation were different and they weren't being chased by two cyborgs that had a squad's worth of ammunition each. She shook her head knowing that getting the troopers out of the CHASs' firing range would mean endangering her as well. But she had no choice when lives were at stake. "Roughnecks!" She yelled out hoping they would follow her voice and head to the relative safety of the room.

The doors shut once again before the CHASs could stop the sliding mechanisms. Sky Marshal Redwing watched as the troopers were all on the floor trying to catch their breath. She saw the gashes and wounds they had gotten from being within the firing range even with the dim lighting. She hoped that their injuries were not life threatening. The door was starting to glow a reddish color.

She watched Dizzy Flores slowly get up to a sitting position. "Now we know why they were cheaper." She said still slightly out of breath.

Carl chuckled. "I guess we get what we pay for." He replied.

Sgt. Zim got to his feet and stood in front of the Sky Marshal. The troopers groaned when they saw him salute remembering that they had just thrown protocol out the window. Even the Sky Marshal was surprised by his actions but returned the formal greeting. Sgt. Zim turned his head slightly to glare at Rico who was still lying on the ground-- this was after all his job-- before returning his attention back to the Sky Marshal.

"You apes alright?" The Sky Marshal asked with concern watching the troopers on the floor stay on the floor.

The Sky Marshal received a collective unenthusiastic response from the troopers who were still trying to recuperate from their marathon. "Ma'am yes ma'am." They barely mumbled out.

Sgt. Zim sighed. "They'll live." He answered beside his old friend. "But right now, we need to put those things out of commission. We'll need your override code." He explained.

The Sky Marshal shook her head. "Intel has tried that. The system won't shut down through the override." She said.

Lt. Rico sat up automatically at that statement. "What?" He turned automatically to the resident tech. "I thought Andy said that..."

"It probably learned that weakness with the stunt Andy pulled earlier." Gossard offered the explanation before Rico could finish his explanation. "No same two tricks twice." He reminded everyone.

Brutto was on his feet looking around the room. "Great. Anybody else have any bright ideas?"

"Try the door." Higgins pointed out the brightly glowing red door. The doors' demise wouldn't be long now. The cyborgs only need it to be soft enough for them to pull apart.

Brutto shrugged. "Way to point out the obvious." He replied before turning around just to find a trooper still lying on her back unlike everyone else who have already regained their bearings. He nudged the girl's arm slightly with his foot. "Hey Anderson, you still alive?" He asked still nudging the girl's arm. There was no response. "Anderson?" He asked again, this time with less of his normal brash attitude.

Andy finally slapped his foot away her hand. "I'm trying to think but all I really want to do is strangle that man who didn't test the stupid thing."

"I get dibs on the guy who planned the waterproofing." Gossard chuckled wryly.

"I'll make sure to give them the wrong medication when they come in." Doc joined in.

Rico brandished his morita and aimed for the melting door. "Great. If we survive, I'll hold them down." He replied. "These things need a shrink." He asked sarcastically as he watched the troopers get their own weapons and ready for the onslaught that would soon come. "A personality adjustment. A lobotomy. Someone to show it who's boss." Rico continued ranting.

Gossard's eyes widened. "Lobotomy." He repeated after the lieutenant. It was like a light bulb just went on inside his head as he remembered the cyborg specifications. He hurriedly turned to face Andy. "There's a program that links the AI to the mechs." He said knowing she would understand what he was suggesting could be done.

Andy shook her head. "Overrides don't work, Tech. System can't be reached because the AI is blocking us out. Can't reach the system, can't reach that program." She pointed out right away.

Dizzy watched the door. "Aaand there they go." She commented about the ensuing conversation that she doesn't understand.

"Correction. The system OVERALL can't be reached because the AI is blocking SICON." Gossard corrected with a grin. He watched the girl's expression change confirming his suspicion. "Aha! You know I'm right. That'll stop it ." He said.

She automatically stowed her morita and sank to the floor taking out her laptop. "That'll stop it." She grinned as she started typing furiously. "Freaking bunch of geniuses. I hate you." She added.

The Sky Marshal exchanged confused glances with her friend. Sgt. Zim shrugged signaling that he should not be the one she should be asking. "Someone care to translate?" She asked the troopers.

"She has to pretend to be something other than SICON to enter only part of the system and delete the program Gossard was talking about to shut down the CHAS." The lieutenant answered simply. "Cloak and dagger kind of stuff."

The troopers immediately gave their squad leader a look of shock and surprised. "You're not Rico." Carl Jenkins said breaking the relative silence.

"I second that." Gossard agreed with a nod.

The lieutenant grinned smugly at the the older trooper. "You think you people are so hot but you're not." He shot back to the two defectors.

There were fingers now emerging from the softened metal. The CHASs were starting to pry the doors open just like they did in the weapon's hold. The rest of the troopers were remained ready to try to shoot down the cyborgs if the other two failed their little experiment. "Not much time." Andy sighed looking down on her laptop typing even faster.

"Private, I'm taking your weapon." The Sky Marshal said reaching for the morita in Andy's pack. The girl nodded absentmindedly in response. Sgt. Zim lead the Sky Marshal to stay behind the troopers after she had the gun with her.

Doc bit his lower lip as the hole the CHASs' have made started to grow bigger. "Anytime now, Andy." He saw the the girl cringe. "No pressure." He added.

"Open fire if you have a shot. Slow them down." Rico ordered. The troopers started to shoot tentatively. The CHAS that was making the whole stepped back as the bullets hit it. They saw the second CHAS step forward and place one of its arms through.

Dizzy's eyes widened realizing what the CHAS was about to do when its hand dropped revealing the weapon embedded on its wrists. "Flame thrower!" She called out just in time for the the troopers to react. The Roughnecks found themselves sprawled on the floor once again to avoid initial burst of flames. The CHAS's hand retreated to the sides of the hole. With one final tug, the metal door finally gave way enough so that the CHAS systems could come in.

The CHASs started to enter the room. Higgins could feel their cold metallic stare on him as he took several steps backwards like the rest of the troopers still firing at the systems in vain. The CHASs just stood on the spot unmoved as the shots hit them. Soon, a familiar beeping and whirl filled the room signaling that they had all run out of ammunition. Higgins looked around at the other troopers standing. They were all reflecting his panicked expression for once. He saw Sgt. Zim move to stand right in front of the Sky Marshal making sure that she would be protected from whatever the units could do as long as he was standing.

That was when the CHASs raised their arms and revealed their machine guns. "Execute." They said in unison. There was a click. Higgins closed his eyes and cringed in anticipation of bullets ripping through him. The silence in between felt like forever.

"Execute that! Ha!" Higgins heard someone behind him yell out.

He slowly opened his eyes to see that the CHAS systems have not moved. They were frozen. He was still alive. He was in one piece. He hasn't been riddled to bits. He fell on his knees in relief and turned to face the girl behind him. "You're going to give me a heart attack, Andy." He said weakly.

--

"Suspension." Carl Jenkins said from his bunk.

"Without pay." Higgins added glumly deleting some fuzzy scenes from his camera.

Doc leaned back on his bunk. "Scrubbing the shower tiles with a toothbrush until Zim can see his reflection on it."

Higgins gave the medic a disgusted look. "While he's in the shower? That's just... wrong." He said.

"What century are you people in?" Brutto waved the three off with one hand. "Nothing less than dishonorable discharge." He bent slightly when he passed by Andy's bunk to make sure that she didn't miss the smile on his face. The girl sitting on her bunk hid behind the pillow she was hugging even more in response to the boy's teasing. Everything was relatively back to normal at headquarters although squad deployment has been delayed because of the incident. SICON HQ has been temporarily been hooked to the city's power grid as base technicians try to repair the damage to head quarter's own power system. The medical bay has been just as busy patching up injured troopers right after power was restored. For the base, the main problem of the CHAS attack was over and luckily, there were no fatalities and no major injuries that a few days in the tank won't fix. But for the Roughnecks, there was still one last problem. The fate of a trooper has not yet been decided.

Gossard shook his head in disagreement. "She hacked SICON. It's got to be a fate worse than that." He grinned. "Sky Marshal assigns her to Intel."

Dizzy Flores hit the back of every boy's head while she made her way to the girl's bunk. "Sensitivity. Of. An. Amoeba." She said before taking a seat beside the oddly silent trooper. "Don't listen to them. It'll be fine." She tried to comfort only other girl in the squad.

Andy lifted her head off the pillows. "I've got a lot of blackmail material. You think I can bribe them?" She asked. The troopers erupted in laughter while the girl managed only a small smile. The door to their room silently slid open without any of the troopers noticing. They were too busy laughing at idea of bribing the highest SICON officer.

"Depends." Rico answered from the door. "What do you have on Sarge?" He asked curiously. The girl paled at the sight of the Rico and Zim but stood up with the rest of the troopers to greet the two officers. "At ease." He ordered. The door slid closed. And the tone of the room couldn't be more different than how the lieutenant entered it. Rico and Zim stepped closer to the young girl.

"Here it comes." Gossard whispered to Doc right beside him.

Rico crossed his arms. "I have some good news and some bad news." He said watching the girl nod. "The bad news is..." He paused giving the girl his most serious expression. "You're not being given the luxury to go home." He broke into a grin. "You're not being discharged, Andy."

"WHAT?" Brutto threw his hands up in the air. "Unbelievable. SICON IS psycho." He said returning to his bunk more humoured than annoyed.

Dizzy watched the girl beside her sigh in relief. She crossed her own arms across her chest. Something was still amiss. "So what's the good news?" She asked.

Zim smirked evilly. "As punishment for your misbehavior, the Sky Marshal and the Lieutenant has agreed to have you," he pointed at Andy, "turn him," he pointed at Higgins, "into a credible shooter until he hits 70 consistently from the 40 the greenie has now. I will personally be monitoring his progress so don't even think of cheating. You're in my turf now ape." He warned. Higgins and Andy exchanged shocked expressions much to everyone's amusement.

Rico gave the girl a pat on the shoulder. "That's a fate worse than a discharge. I tried. Believe me." He headed towards his bunk smiling. The Roughnecks have the rest of the day to forget being chased by cyborgs in the middle of the night. The lieutenant leaned back on his pillow and couldn't believe that he was thankful that they would be fighting something more familiar the next day. Tomorrow, they were back to bugs.

-- the end

Note: Somehow, I don't think i make sense anymore by this part. I apologize.


End file.
